Our Landcruiser Build

Why we chose an 80-series Land Cruiser?

You learn a lot when you are trying to buy a vehicle that will become the center of your world for the next 18 months – your home, your kitchen, your transportation, your safety net, your dog’s home – its a lot of pressure. We searched far and wide for the perfect partner for this journey and it has been educational. In the end, I think we made the right decision. We ended up deciding on an 80-series Toyota Landcruiser. The 80-series has been great for this trip because of the type of terrain we have encountered. It has solid axles and a Japanese bus transmission...perfect for those rough Guatemalan roads. Also the ECU is more limited in comparison to the 100-series...that keeps it a little more simple under the hood. Everything in the engine bay is easily accessible which helps with any type of on-the-road fixes. Plus it has fantastic ground clearance, especially with the OME 2.5" lift.

On June 19th, 2015 we flew down to Orlando, Florida to pick up our new Land cruiser.

Our new-to-us 1997 Toyota Landcruiser that spent most of her life in Colorado.

This is what we were told about our Landy when we bought her –

Recent Repairs(all done by Toyota Dealer with Toyota parts):

Serviced Factory Electric Differential Lockers

All Seals Replaced, including just recently rear main seal, and the head gasket for preventive maintenance at 100k by original owner.

New Water Pump

Power Steering Pump (including all lines)

All Fluids Changed in July

Drive Shafts Rebuilt and Re-balanced

Sweep Seals Replaced on Front Axle

New O2 Sensors

New Front Locking Differential

Spark Plugs and Wires

New Brake Booster

Master Cylinder

Load Sensing Proportioning Valve

EFI cleaning, Intake Manifold cleaning, Air Flow Sensor cleaned

New EGR Valve, New EGR Modulator, EGR coolant Sensor

All New Vacuum Lines

New Thermostat, Coolant Temp Sensor

Oil changed and air filter changed regularly

When we flew down to Orlando to pick her up, she was FILTHY. I should’ve known there might be hidden problems under all that dirt. We did everything we thought we were supposed to do when you buy a vehicle – we ran the carfax, took it to Toyota for a full inspection (passed with flying colors), compared her to other similar Landcruisers, but she still had quite a few issues. We were so excited and had already spent the time/money flying there, etc. that we decided we would just fix anything that it might need.

The main problem was that she burned oil. We didn’t notice this until we got back to Nashville. Yes, it is normal for 80-series landcruisers to burn oil – but it is not normal for them to burn this much oil. The good news was that she wasn’t blowing massive amounts of blue or black smoke when we drove, just some white puffs when we started it and if we accelerated hard from a dead stop. The problem: The engine’s valve stem seals. The fix: a top-end engine rebuild.

The winch line was also destroyed. The guy who owned the car before us clearly didn’t know how to pull someone out properly and passed it off to us as a usable line. Nope, not with the trip we are taking. We replaced the steel cable with a Synthetic Amsteel Blue Winch Line from Southeast Overland.

Also she ran HOT. Like so hot that you had to speed up when you walked past the front of the car so you didn’t get burned. The air conditioner would quit working sometimes while driving on the interstate because of the temperature. We took off the previous owner’s insulation in the engine bay, added the header wrap, ARB snorkel and modified the blue fan clutch with a higher-weight fluid. That combo really cooled it down. We’ve had no problems with the engine bay temperature or air conditioner since.

Other Additions:

The whole truck is completely sound proofed with Dynamat: under the hood, carpets, doors.

We have also added:

CVT Mt. Shasta Rooftop Tent and Annex with anti-condensation mat and security nuts – this thing is AWESOME. If you haven’t seen how a rooftop tent works, look it up on youtube – its very cool. We will be posting our own youtube video of the setup/takedown process soon.

CVT Annex with custom re-enforced brackets

Custom steel security bars on all of the windows. Removable security bars on the front driver/passenger windows

Custom steel shelf

Custom addition to cargo barrier

Hi-Lift Jack and accessories

Spare-tire grill

Expedition Portal Trash-a-roo

Slee Rotopax Pivot carrier (modified for Slee jerry can basket)

13.3lb Propane Tank mounted on a Powertank bracket

VAAIR Air Compressor and auxiliary tank

Club anti-theft device (our worst nightmare is our car getting stolen early in the trip so we are taking multiple measures)

We replaced both batteries and put in 2 matching Duralast 31Ms (2 unicorns)

…Plus a ton of other things that I can’t remember at the moment…I’ll add to the list when I think of them.

We decided to get the landcruiser in tip-top shape mechanically before we left the states in order to minimize any problems we might encounter along the way. I did a ton of research and got multiple quotes from different shops, but I settled on getting the work done by the legendary Robbie Antonson of Adventure Off Road in Boulder, CO (aka PowderPig on the forums). He wasn’t the cheapest or the most expensive, but I knew the quality of work would be spot on so we spent 3 weeks in Colorado getting all the work done.

We also ended up having a whole new exhaust system with custom high-strength brackets installed from the headers back. This quality work was done at Boulder Muffler in Boulder, CO.

Now she purrs like a kitten. She’s much more responsive going up hills, and now I can actually pass people on the interstate…that was not happening before. I would recommend AOR and Boulder muffler to anyone that gets a new cruiser. Robbie knows how to work on them with his eyes closed and knows exactly what wear and tear to look for in a higher mileage Toyota. We have had ZERO problems so far and we’ve beat the hell out of the landcruiser on the washboard roads, potholes, topes, etc. in Baja.